Why did Argentina's 9.4-inch ships serve with the coast guard?

Why did Argentina's coast guard need former warships armed with 9.4-inch guns?

The transfer appears to have preserved two ships Argentina was reluctant to discard, extending their service for about twenty years.

A viewer jokes about heavily armed smugglers, but the answer is institutional rather than tactical. Argentina appears to have been reluctant to discard Independencia and Libertad when their naval careers ended. The coast guard therefore kept the ships for roughly another two decades. Their survival until 1968 illustrates how affection, residual utility, and reluctance to scrap a durable hull can extend a warship's service beyond its original combat role.